Arnold Expedition

The Arnold Expedition was a part of a two-pronged invasion of British Canada that occurred in late 1775 during the American Revolutionary War. As Richard Montgomery invaded Canada from Fort Ticonderoga, Benedict Arnold set out with 1,000 troops to advance up the Kennebec River into Canada, and, despite heavy losses due to attrition, he eventually made it to Quebec.

The invasion of Canada was undertaken with the goal of adding Canada as a fourteenth colony of the Thirteen Colonies; George Washington also sought to capture Quebec, which housed the largest number of supplies in the Americas. General Montgomery was to advance north from Fort Ticonderoga and up the Lake Champlain corridor, while Arnold led a force of 1,100 Continental Army troops on an expedition from Cambridge in Massachusetts up the rugged Kennebec River and onto Quebec. Arnold relied on a 10-year-old map to guide him 350 miles upstream through wilderness, attempting to do only what a very small exploring party had ever done before. It was late September by the time that Arnold had gathered his troops and supplies, and his soldiers braved the chilly, pre-winter airs.

Arnold's troops were forced to endure the worst of winter attrition as they advanced north. The green-wood boats began to come apart, and the food ran out; Arnold's troops began to eat their cartridge boxes, their shoe leather, and their shaving soap. After six weeks, nearly 400 turned back, while the rest struggled through waist-deep, freezing water. On 9 November, eight weeks after the start of the expedition, the survivors finally reached Quebec, and Arnold pitched his camp just out of range of Quebec's guns. Arnold had half the strength of Quebec, the most heavily fortified city in the Americas, and he had little gunpowder and no cannon; however, he demanded the city's surrender. The British and Canadians stayed behind their walls, content with supplies, and they sought to wait for the Americans to starve. However, on 2 December, Montgomery's forces arrived with supplies, and the two commanders decided to attack Quebec under the cover of the next snowstorm. This attack, the Battle of Quebec on 31 December 1775, was a disaster.